Scientists discover world's smallest fish

Thradia · 26th January 2006, 07:09 PM

How cool is this!?

Quote:

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Scientists have discovered the world's smallest fish on record in an acidic peat swamp in Indonesia, with a see-through body and a head that is unprotected by a skeleton, researchers said Wednesday.

Mature females of the Paedocypris progenetica, a member of the carp family, only grow to 7.9 millimeters (0.31 inches) and the males have enlarged pelvic fins and exceptionally large muscles that may be used to grasp the females during copulation, researchers wrote in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, published Wednesday by the Royal Society in London.

"This is one of the strangest fish that I've seen in my whole career,' said Ralf Britz, zoologist at the Natural History Museum in London, who helped analyze the fish's skeleton.

"It's tiny, it lives in acid and it has these bizarre grasping fins. I hope we'll have time to find out more about them before their habitat disappears completely."

The previous record for small size, according to the Natural History Museum in London, was held by an 8-millimeter species of Indo-Pacific goby.

The new fish was discovered on Sumatra island by fish experts Maurice Kottelat from Switzerland and Tan Heok Hui from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research in Singapore. They were working with colleagues from Indonesia and with Kai-Erik Witte from the Max Planck Institute in Germany.

"You don't wake up in the morning and think today we will find the smallest fish in the world," Kottelat told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his home in Switzerland.

He said the record of finding the world's smallest fish was not important, preferring to focus on what he said was "scientifically significant."

"What's important is finding a complete vertebrae in a body so small," he said.

Kottelat said he first came across the fish in 1996, but originally misidentified it as a member of an already existing species. "But then we realized this one was different."

According to the researchers, the fish live in dark, tea-colored water with an acidity of ph 3, at least 100 times more acidic than rainwater. Swamps like this were once thought to harbor very few animals, but recent research has revealed that they are highly diverse and home to many species that occur nowhere else.

Peat swamps are under threat in Indonesia from fires lit by plantation owners and farmers as well as unchecked development and farming. Several populations of Paedocypris have already been lost, researchers say, according to the Natural History Museum.

**Adri** · 26th January 2006, 08:47 PM

Thats awesome, but sad that the environment they live in is being destroyed.

**Ally** · 26th January 2006, 10:12 PM

That's cool. Maybe now they'll take care of the area where the fish live. You never know what else might be there.

Flutter · 27th January 2006, 07:12 AM

Looks like the lil fishies we'd catch sometimes in the swamps in southern Louisiana.
I'm sure we were just catching baby fish though hehe.

Mapper · 28th January 2006, 10:26 AM

Wow, Now that is small!

26th January 2006, 08:47 PM	#2
Adri Wearing metal panties in a lightning storm Join Date: May 2004 Shard: Pacific/Landroval Posts: 3,763 Gold: 5,912 My Mood: Thanks: 177 Thanked 93 Times in 65 Posts Awards Showcase Total Awards: 2	Re: Scientists discover world's smallest fish Thats awesome, but sad that the environment they live in is being destroyed. We are all broken and wounded in this world. Some choose to grow strong at the broken places. --Harold J. Duarte-Bernhardt Thanks to Atlas for the fantastic sig!

26th January 2006, 10:12 PM	#3
Ally The Couch Hottie Join Date: Aug 2004 Shard: Lake Austin, Atlantic Posts: 4,423 Gold: 3,133 My Mood: Thanks: 37 Thanked 10 Times in 10 Posts	Re: Scientists discover world's smallest fish That's cool. Maybe now they'll take care of the area where the fish live. You never know what else might be there.

28th January 2006, 10:26 AM	#5
Mapper Europa for the win! Join Date: Jul 2005 Shard: Europa Posts: 285 Gold: 11 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Scientists discover world's smallest fish Wow, Now that is small!

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